Bindu Ananth, chairperson at Dvara Trust (formerly IFMR Trust), has been on a roll. Not only had she risen the corporate ladder on her own merit, she has also topped the popularity charts by making a difference to the society. Thanks to her visionary approach, many people from the bottom of the pyramid got access to easy credit with IFMR Capital facilitating loans to the extent of Rs 40,000 crore. She was also a member of the government of India’s high level committee on women (2014-15). She is a member of the Taskforce of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India (2017).
“As Board Chair, I am responsible for aligning the business strategy of each company to the mission of IFMR Trust and establishing the highest standards of corporate governance,” says Ananth. Prior to working with IFMR Trust, Ananth worked with ICICI Bank for about seven years as a founding member of the microfinance practice. “During this stint, I led several innovative project teams including the design of ICICI Bank’s direct origination programme for MFIs and India’s first rainfall index insurance product,” writes Ananth on her LinkedIn profile.
It is to be mentioned that Ananth is co-founder and Board Chair of the IFMR Group of companies and this comprises a) IFMR Capital, an NBFC providing debt capital markets access to over 110 NBFCs working in asset classes such as micro loans, small business loans & commercial vehicles b) IFMR Rural Channels, a retail financial services institution designed for remote rural India and c) IFMR Rural Finance, a technology solutions company that has a suite of customer centricity tools for FIs and d) IFMR Finance Foundation, a financial sector policy think-tank.
Ananth is also currently serving as a Nominee Director for National Stock Exchange on the Board of Computer Age Management Services. She is a member of the Advisory Boards of Columbia University’s India Initiative and Equal Community Foundation. She has an undergraduate degree in Economics from Madras University and Master’s degrees from the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She has also co-edited Financial Engineering for Low-Income Households, a 2013 title published by Sage Publications.